The new addition to our family

These are the things hanging on our clothes line these days.

 

Pink quilt for a little girl

 We are kept very busy with cleaning up, washing, baths, walks, play time and early wake up calls.
Do I hear you say that she is too old to have a baby? Yes, you are correct. But not too old for this bundle of fur..

Penny with the toy that arrived with her

Her name is Penny. She came into our lives in January and she is now a boisterous 9 month old Labrador who dominates everything we do.

She is inquisitive, loves to garden and dig. Our garden thongs have been chewed every time we go out and forgot to put them out of reach. Funnily, she only chews the left ones, so consequently, we have many right thongs. Pity we cannot buy singles from the shop. She loves to "help" in the vegetable garden--- we have made many trips to Bunnings to buy material for a simple fence to go around the garden beds to keep her out. Her favourite vegetable was the sugar snap peas (I think we managed to get about 6 for our dinner one night ie the ones she missed),and raspberries are delicious too (we only have young canes and hence just a few fruit, but we have not tried a single one as she beat us to them too).

Penny discovering the garden

She has given us many sleepless nights from worry. When she was with us for 2 days, she developed an itch on her belly. What started as a minor itch became a major drama, with hair loss on her belly and she (and us) were distraught by this. We treated her for every itchy condition one could think of, and she was put on a special diet food. After what seemed like ages, her rash cleared and she is now back on normal dog food. We breathed a sigh of relief, but not for long.
She has had a soreness in her left hip for months. We initially thought it was from jumping over the temporary mesh around the veggie garden. But it has persisted. She has had X-rays and anti -inflammatories and this limp persists if she gets too active. So we have had to stop all ball games, play with her doggy friends had to stop and walks are 2 short walks a day. We cannot stop her running around the yard when she gets into the chasing mood and that gets her hip sore again. It is such a pity to limit her play which she loves, but we have to for her hip.

Penny asleep with her 2 favourite teddies

On the other hand, she has given us great joy. She is the first one to get a greeting when anyone comes home. She is our shadow when we are home and loves to be as close to you as she possibly can. Her foot rests on my feet when I am in the kitchen -- I guess to remind me that she is there for titbits. Despite being 9 months old, she still likes to climb up and sleep in someone's  lap! I cannot have her on my lap anymore, but there are other laps that she can still climb onto for a sleep.

A sleepy Penny

Before she came home, we said that she would have to sleep in the garage at night. Of course she started in the laundry as a puppy. When the time came to move to the garage, we put her out with great apprehension. Needless to say, she lasted ( or should I say WE lasted) 20 minutes out there. She has her bed in the lounge and rules the roost.

Penny on her bed

We got Penny from the same breeder as our Tess. Looking at the lineage, Tess is Penny's great aunt! Nothing like keeping it all in the family.


We have a beautiful sunny day today and we are enjoying it-- especially after the very wet few weeks we have had. The wettest August for 150years.  Needless to say, a wet winter has caused many people to have colds and the flu.Penny had a bath too today as we thought we should take advantage of the sunshine-- a nice clean dog, for a few hours at least.

Thank you for visiting and meeting our Penny.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
Yvonne